WHY ARE WOMEN STILL USED AS SEX OBJECTS IN ADVERTISEMENT AND WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS AFTER EFFECTS?
This content analysis examined the depiction of women in 1,988 advertisements from 58 popular U.S. magazines. Advertisements were coded with respect to whether women were presented as sex objects and/or as victims using a scheme developed by the researchers. On average across magazines, one of two advertisements that featured women portrayed them as sex objects. Women appeared as victims in just under ten percent of the advertisements. Men’s, women’s fashion, and female adolescent magazines were more likely to portray women as sex objects and as victims than news and business, special interest, or women’s non-fashion magazines. The implications of viewing advertisements depicting women as sex objects and as victims, especially sexualized victims are glaring,
ARE WOMEN REALLY VICTIMS, DIDN'T THEY READ THE CONTRACT AND SIGNED THE DOTTED LINES AND FOR THOSE NOT IN THE ADVERTISING WORLD WHERE MEN TRY TO FLEX THEIR MUSCLES WOULD YOU SAY THAT MEN SEE YOU AS SEXUAL OBJECTS BECAUSE OF SOME ADVERTISING?
So What's The Impact?
It's hard to say what the exact impact of female sexualized advertising is. As a woman, I can absolutely relate to the feeling of unrealistic expectations of body image, relationships, and aspirations. But the results of these images impact much more than teen angst. According to the Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders 69% of girls in 5th to 12th grade reported that magazine pictures affected their idea of the perfect body weight and size
Perhaps it's hard to say what the "exact" impact is, but it isn't hard to say what the majority of the impact is at all, if you simply look at the research -- not only does it show that girls and women are extremely negatively affected, but that they still strive for thin-ideal even when they've been taught about what this media is doing to them.
ReplyDeleteI have research showing that materialism is a powerful potentiator of this effect, as well. Not too surprising, that. When everything is a commodity, we're far more willing to see ourselves that way too, and value ourselves as commodities rather than as people.